Amongst a great number of Roman missals and breviaries, remarkable for

the beauty of their cuts and illuminations, will be found the Mosarabick

missal and breviary, that raised such commotions in the kingdom of

Spain.

The controversial treatises written in England, about the time of the

Reformation, have been diligently collected, with a multitude of

remarkable tracts, single sermons, and small treatises; which, however

worthy to be preserved, are, perhaps, to be found in no other place.

The regard which was always paid, by the collectors of this library, to

that remarkable period of time, in which the art of printing was

invented, determined them to accumulate the ancient impressions of the

fathers of the church; to which the later editions are added, lest

antiquity should have seemed more worthy of esteem than accuracy.

History has been considered with the regard due to that study by which

the manners are most easily formed, and from which the most efficacious

instruction is received; nor will the most extensive curiosity fail of

gratification in this library, from which no writers have been excluded,

that relate either the religious, or civil affairs of any nation.

Not only those authors of ecclesiastical history have been procured,

that treat of the state of religion in general, or deliver accounts of

sects or nations, but those, likewise, who have confined themselves to

particular orders of men in every church; who have related the original,

and the rules of every society, or recounted the lives of its founder

and its members; those who have deduced in every country the succession

of bishops, and those who have employed their abilities in celebrating

the piety of particular saints, or martyrs, or monks, or nuns.

The civil history of all nations has been amassed together; nor is it

easy to determine which has been thought most worthy of curiosity.

Of France, not only the general histories and ancient chronicles, the

accounts of celebrated reigns, and narratives of remarkable events, but

even the memorials of single families, the lives of private men, the

antiquities of particular cities, churches, and monasteries, the

topography of provinces, and the accounts of laws, customs, and

prescriptions, are here to be found.

The several states of Italy have, in this treasury, their particular

historians, whose accounts are, perhaps, generally more exact, by being

less extensive; and more interesting, by being more particular.

Nor has less regard been paid to the different nations of the Germanick

empire, of which neither the Bohemians, nor Hungarians, nor Austrians,

nor Bavarians, have been neglected; nor have their antiquities, however

generally disregarded, been less studiously searched, than their present

state.

The northern nations have supplied this collection, not only with

history, but poetry, with Gothick antiquities and Runick inscriptions;

which, at least, have this claim to veneration, above the remains of the

Roman magnificence, that they are the works of those heroes by whom the

Roman empire was destroyed; and which may plead, at least in this

nation, that they ought not to be neglected by those that owe to the men

whose memories they preserve, their constitution, their properties, and

their liberties.

The curiosity of these collectors extended equally to all parts of the

world; nor did they forget to add to the northern the southern writers,

or to adorn their collection with chronicles of Spain, and the conquest

of Mexico.

Even of those nations with which we have less intercourse, whose customs

are less accurately known, and whose history is less distinctly

recounted, there are in this library reposited such accounts as the

Europeans have been hitherto able to obtain; nor are the Mogul, the

Tartar, the Turk, and the Saracen, without their historians.

That persons, so inquisitive with regard to the transactions of other

nations, should inquire yet more ardently after the history of their

own, may be naturally expected; and, indeed, this part of the library is

no common instance of diligence and accuracy. Here are to be found, with

the ancient chronicles, and larger histories of Britain, the narratives

of single reigns, and the accounts of remarkable revolutions, the

topographical histories of counties, the pedigrees of families, the

antiquities of churches and cities, the proceedings of parliaments, the

records of monasteries, and the lives of particular men, whether eminent

in the church or the state, or remarkable in private life; whether

exemplary for their virtues, or detestable for their crimes; whether

persecuted for religion, or executed for rebellion.

That memorable period of the English history, which begins with the

reign of king Charles the first, and ends with the Restoration, will

almost furnish a library alone; such is the number of volumes, pamphlets

and papers, which were published by either party; and such is the care

with which they have been preserved.

Nor is history without the necessary preparatives and attendants,

geography and chronology: of geography, the best writers and delineators

have been procured, and pomp and accuracy have been both regarded; the

student of chronology may here find, likewise, those authors who

searched the records of time, and fixed the periods of history.

With the historians and geographers may be ranked the writers of voyages

and travels, which may be read here in the Latin, English, Dutch,

German, French, Italian, and Spanish languages.

The laws of different countries, as they are in themselves equally

worthy of curiosity with their history, have, in this collection, been

justly regarded; and the rules by which the various communities of the

world are governed, may be here examined and compared. Here are the

ancient editions of the papal decretals, and the commentators on the

civil law, the edicts of Spain, and the statutes of Venice.

But with particular industry have the various writers on the laws of our

own country been collected, from the most ancient to the present time,

from the bodies of the statutes to the minutest treatise; not only the

reports, precedents, and readings of our own courts, but even the laws

of our West-Indian colonies, will be exhibited in our catalogue.

But neither history nor law have been so far able to engross this

library, as to exclude physick, philosophy, or criticism. Those have

been thought, with justice, worthy of a place, who have examined the

different species of animals, delineated their forms, or described their

properties and instincts; or who have penetrated the bowels of the

earth, treated on its different strata, and analyzed its metals; or who

have amused themselves with less laborious speculations, and planted

trees, or cultivated flowers.

Those that have exalted their thoughts above the minuter parts of the

creation, who have observed the motions of the heavenly bodies, and

attempted systems of the universe, have not been denied the honour which

they deserved by so great an attempt, whatever has been their success.

Nor have those mathematicians been rejected, who have applied their

science to the common purposes of life; or those that have deviated into

the kindred arts of tacticks, architecture, and fortification.

Even arts of far less importance have found their authors, nor have

these authors been despised by the boundless curiosity of the

proprietors of the Harleian library. The writers on horsemanship and

fencing are more numerous and more bulky than could be expected by those

who reflect, how seldom those excel in either, whom their education has

qualified to compose books.

The admirer of Greek and Roman literature will meet, in this collection,

with editions little known to the most inquisitive criticks, and which

have escaped the observation of those whose great employment has been

the collation of copies; nor will he find only the most ancient editions

of Faustus, Jenson, Spira, Sweynheim and Pannartz, but the most

accurate, likewise, and beautiful of Colinaeus, the Juntae, Plantin,

Aldus, the Stephens, and Elzevir, with the commentaries and observations

of the most learned editors.

Nor are they accompanied only with the illustrations of those who have

confined their attempts to particular writers, but of those, likewise,

who have treated on any part of the Greek or Roman antiquities, their

laws, their customs, their dress, their buildings, their wars, their

revenues, or the rites and ceremonies of their worship, and those that

have endeavoured to explain any of their authors from their statues or

their coins.

Next to the ancients, those writers deserve to be mentioned, who, at the

restoration of literature, imitated their language and their style with

so great success, or who laboured with so much industry to make them

understood: such were Philelphus and Politian, Scaliger and Buchanan,

and the poets of the age of Leo the tenth; these are, likewise, to be

found in this library, together with the Deliciæ, or collections of all

nations.

Painting is so nearly allied to poetry, that it cannot be wondered that

those who have so much esteemed the one, have paid an equal regard to

the other; and, therefore, it may be easily imagined, that the

collection of prints is numerous in an uncommon degree; but, surely, the

expectation of every man will be exceeded, when he is informed that

there are more than forty thousand engraven from Raphael, Titian, Guido,

the Carraccis, and a thousand others, by Nanteuil, Hollar, Callet,

Edelinck, and Dorigny, and other engravers of equal reputation.

Their is also a great collection of original drawings, of which three

seem to deserve a particular mention: the first exhibits a

representation of the inside of St. Peter's church at Rome; the second,

of that of St. John Lateran; and the third, of the high altar of St.

Ignatius; all painted with the utmost accuracy, in their proper colours.

As the value of this great collection may he conceived from this

account, however imperfect; as the variety of subjects must engage the

curiosity of men of different studies, inclinations, and employments, it

may be thought of very little use to mention any slighter advantages, or

to dwell on the decorations and embellishments which the generosity of

the proprietors has bestowed upon it; yet, since the compiler of the

Thuanian catalogue thought not even that species of elegance below his

observation, it may not be improper to observe, that the Harleian

library, perhaps, excels all others, not more in the number and

excellence, than in the splendour of its volumes[3].

We may now, surely, be allowed to hope, that our catalogue will not be

thought unworthy of the publick curiosity; that it will be purchased as

a record of this great collection, and preserved as one of the memorials

of learning.

The patrons of literature will forgive the purchaser of this library, if

he presumes to assert some claim to their protection and encouragement,

as he may have been instrumental in continuing to this nation the

advantage of it. The sale of Vossius's collection into a foreign

country, is, to this day, regretted by men of letters; and if this

effort for the prevention of another loss of the same kind should be

disadvantageous to him, no man will hereafter willingly risk his fortune

in the cause of learning.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] This apology is no longer necessary, when the catalogue of Lord

Spencer's library is published at 16_l_. 16_s_. See Dibdin's

Bibliomania, Aedes Althorpianæ, and the indignant complaints of the

author of the Pursuits of Literature.--Ed.

[2] It is not quite clear to whom Johnson here alludes; perhaps to

Bentley, and with reference to some of Garth's expressions:

So diamonds take a lustre from their foil;

And to a Bentley 'tis we owe a Boyle.

Dispensary, Canto V.

[3] Mr. Dibdin informs us, that Lord Oxford gave 18,000_l_ for the

_binding_ only the least part of the Harleian Library. See his

Bibliomania.--Ed.

AN

ESSAY

ON THE

ORIGIN AND IMPORTANCE

OF

SMALL TRACTS AND FUGITIVE PIECES.

WRITTEN FOR THE INTRODUCTION TO

THE HARLEIAN MISCELLANY.

Though the scheme of the following miscellany is so obvious, that the

title alone is sufficient to explain it; and though several collections

have been formerly attempted, upon plans, as to the method, very little,

but, as to the capacity and execution, very different from ours; we,

being possessed of the greatest variety for such a work, hope for a more

general reception than those confined schemes had the fortune to meet

with; and, therefore, think it not wholly unnecessary to explain our

intentions, to display the treasure of materials out of which this

miscellany is to be compiled, and to exhibit a general idea of the

pieces which we intend to insert in it.

There is, perhaps, no nation in which it is so necessary, as in our own,

to assemble, from time to time, the small tracts and fugitive pieces,

which are occasionally published; for, besides the general subjects of

inquiry, which are cultivated by us, in common with every other learned

nation, our constitution in church and state naturally gives birth to a

multitude of performances, which would either not have been written, or

could not have been made publick in any other place.

The form of our government, which gives every man, that has leisure, or

curiosity, or vanity, the right of inquiring into the propriety of

publick measures, and, by consequence, obliges those who are intrusted

with the administration of national affairs, to give an account of their

conduct to almost every man who demands it, may be reasonably imagined

to have occasioned innumerable pamphlets, which would never have

appeared under arbitrary governments, where every man lulls himself in

indolence under calamities, of which he cannot promote the redress, or

thinks it prudent to conceal the uneasiness, of which he cannot complain

without danger.

The multiplicity of religious sects tolerated among us, of which every

one has found opponents and vindicators, is another source of

unexhaustible publication, almost peculiar to ourselves; for

controversies cannot be long continued, nor frequently revived, where an

inquisitor has a right to shut up the disputants in dungeons; or where

silence can be imposed on either party, by the refusal of a license.

Not, that it should be inferred from hence, that political or religious

controversies are the only products of the liberty of the British press;

the mind once let loose to inquiry, and suffered to operate without

restraint, necessarily deviates into peculiar opinions, and wanders in

new tracks, where she is, indeed, sometimes lost in a labyrinth, from

which though she cannot return, and scarce knows how to proceed; yet,

sometimes, makes useful discoveries, or finds out nearer paths to

knowledge.

The boundless liberty with which every man may write his own thoughts,

and the opportunity of conveying new sentiments to the publick, without

danger of suffering either ridicule or censure, which every man may

enjoy, whose vanity does not incite him too hastily to own his

performances, naturally invites those who employ themselves in

speculation, to try how their notions will be received by a nation,

which exempts caution from fear, and modesty from shame; and it is no

wonder, that where reputation may be gained, but needs not be lost,

multitudes are willing to try their fortune, and thrust their opinions

into the light; sometimes with unsuccessful haste, and sometimes with

happy temerity.

It is observed, that, among the natives of England, is to be found a

greater variety of humour, than in any other country; and, doubtless,

where every man has a full liberty to propagate his conceptions, variety

of humour must produce variety of writers; and, where the number of

authors is so great, there cannot but be some worthy of distinction.

All these, and many other causes, too tedious to be enumerated, have

contributed to make pamphlets and small tracts a very important part of

an English library; nor are there any pieces, upon which those, who

aspire to the reputation of judicious collectors of books, bestow more

attention, or greater expense; because many advantages may be expected

from the perusal of these small productions, which are scarcely to be

found in that of larger works.

If we regard history, it is well known, that most political treatises

have for a long time appeared in this form, and that the first relations

of transactions, while they are yet the subject of conversation, divide

the opinions, and employ the conjectures of mankind, are delivered by

these petty writers, who have opportunities of collecting the different

sentiments of disputants, of inquiring the truth from living witnesses,

and of copying their representations from the life; and, therefore, they

preserve a multitude of particular incidents, which are forgotten in a

short time, or omitted in formal relations, and which are yet to be

considered as sparks of truth, which, when united, may afford light in

some of the darkest scenes of state, as, we doubt not, will be

sufficiently proved in the course of this miscellany; and which it is,

therefore, the interest of the publick to preserve unextinguished.

The same observation may be extended to subjects of yet more importance.

In controversies that relate to the truths of religion, the first essays

of reformation are generally timorous; and those, who have opinions to

offer, which they expect to be opposed, produce their sentiments, by

degrees, and, for the most part, in small tracts: by degrees, that they

may not shock their readers with too many novelties at once; and in

small tracts, that they may be easily dispersed, or privately printed.

Almost every controversy, therefore, has been, for a time, carried on in

pamphlets, nor has swelled into larger volumes, till the first ardour of

the disputants has subsided, and they have recollected their notions

with coolness enough to digest them into order, consolidate them into

systems, and fortify them with authorities.

From pamphlets, consequently, are to be learned the progress of every

debate; the various state to which the questions have been changed; the

artifices and fallacies which have been used, and the subterfuges by

which reason has been eluded. In such writings may be seen how the mind

has been opened by degrees, how one truth has led to another, how errour

has been disentangled, and hints improved to demonstration, which

pleasure, and many others, are lost by him that only reads the larger

writers, by whom these scattered sentiments are collected, who will see

none of the changes of fortune which every opinion has passed through,

will have no opportunity of remarking the transient advantages which

errour may sometimes obtain, by the artifices of its patron, or the

successful rallies, by which truth regains the day, after a repulse; but

will be to him, who traces the dispute through into particular

gradations, as he that hears of a victory, to him that sees the battle.

Since the advantages of preserving these small tracts are so numerous,

our attempt to unite them in volumes cannot be thought either useless or

unseasonable; for there is no other method of securing them from

accidents; and they have already been so long neglected, that this

design cannot be delayed, without hazarding the loss of many pieces,

which deserve to be transmitted to another age.

The practice of publishing pamphlets on the most important subjects has

now prevailed more than two centuries among us; and, therefore, it

cannot be doubted, but that, as no large collections have been yet made,

many curious tracts must have perished; but it is too late to lament

that loss; nor ought we to reflect upon it, with any other view, than

that of quickening our endeavours for the preservation of those that yet

remain; of which we have now a greater number, than was, perhaps, ever

amassed by any one person.

The first appearance of pamphlets among us is generally thought to be at

the new opposition raised against the errours and corruptions of the

church of Rome. Those who were first convinced of the reasonableness of

the new learning, as it was then called, propagated their opinions in

small pieces, which were cheaply printed, and, what was then of great

importance, easily concealed. These treatises were generally printed in

foreign countries, and are not, therefore, always very correct. There

was not then that opportunity of printing in private; for the number of

printers was small, and the presses were easily overlooked by the

clergy, who spared no labour or vigilance for the suppression of heresy.

There is, however, reason to suspect, that some attempts were made to

carry on the propagation of truth by a secret press; for one of the

first treatises in favour of the Reformation, is said, at the end, to be

printed at "Greenwich, by the permission of the Lord of Hosts."

In the time of king Edward the sixth, the presses were employed in

favour of the reformed religion, and small tracts were dispersed over

the nation, to reconcile them to new forms of worship. In this reign,

likewise, political pamphlets may be said to have been begun, by the

address of the rebels of Devonshire; all which means of propagating the

sentiments of the people so disturbed the court, that no sooner was

queen Mary resolved to reduce her subjects to the Romish superstition,

but she artfully, by a charter[1], granted to certain freemen of London,

in whose fidelity, no doubt, she confided, entirely prohibited ALL

presses, but what should be licensed by them; which charter is that by

which the corporation of Stationers in London is, at this time,

incorporated.

Under the reign of queen Elizabeth, when liberty again began to

flourish, the practice of writing pamphlets became more general; presses

were multiplied, and books were dispersed; and, I believe, it may

properly be said, that the trade of writing began at this time, and that

it has, ever since, gradually increased in the number, though, perhaps,

not in the style of those that followed it.

In this reign was erected the first secret press against the church, as

now established, of which I have found any certain account. It was

employed by the Puritans, and conveyed from one part of the nation to

another, by them, as they found themselves in danger of discovery. From

this press issued most of the pamphlets against Whitgift and his

associates, in the ecclesiastical government; and, when it was at last

seized at Manchester, it was employed upon a pamphlet called More Work

for a Cooper.

In the peaceable reign of king James, those minds which might, perhaps,

with less disturbance of the world, have been engrossed by war, were

employed in controversy; and writings of all kinds were multiplied among

us. The press, however, was not wholly engaged in polemical

performances, for more innocent subjects were sometimes treated; and it

deserves to be remarked, because it is not generally known, that the

treatises of husbandry and agriculture, which were published about that

time, are so numerous, that it can scarcely be imagined by whom they

were written, or to whom they were sold.

The next reign is too well known to have been a time of confusion and

disturbance, and disputes of every kind; and the writings, which were

produced, bear a natural proportion to the number of the questions that

were discussed at that time; each party had its authors and its presses,

and no endeavours were omitted to gain proselytes to every opinion. I

know not whether this may not properly be called, The Age of Pamphlets;

for, though they, perhaps, may not arise to such multitudes as Mr.

Rawlinson imagined, they were, undoubtedly, more numerous than can be

conceived by any who have not had an opportunity of examining them.

After the Restoration, the same differences, in religious opinions, are

well known to have subsisted, and the same political struggles to have

been frequently renewed; and, therefore, a great number of pens were

employed, on different occasions, till, at length, all other disputes

were absorbed in the popish controversy.

From the pamphlets which these different periods of time produced, it is

proposed, that this miscellany shall be compiled, for which it cannot be

supposed that materials will be wanting; and, therefore, the only

difficulty will be in what manner to dispose them.

Those who have gone before us, in undertakings of this kind, have ranged

the pamphlets, which chance threw into their hands, without any regard

either to the subject on which they treated, or the time in which they

were written; a practice in no wise to be imitated by us, who want for

no materials; of which we shall choose those we think best for the

particular circumstances of times and things, and most instructing and

entertaining to the reader.

Of the different methods which present themselves, upon the first view

of the great heaps of pamphlets which the Harleian library exhibits[2],

the two which merit most attention are, to distribute the treatises

according to their subjects, or their dates; but neither of these ways

can be conveniently followed. By ranging our collection in order of

time, we must necessarily publish those pieces first, which least engage

the curiosity of the bulk of mankind; and our design must fall to the

ground, for want of encouragement, before it can be so far advanced as

to obtain general regard: by confining ourselves for any long time to

any single subject, we shall reduce our readers to one class; and, as we

shall lose all the grace of variety, shall disgust all those who read

chiefly to be diverted. There is, likewise, one objection of equal

force, against both these methods, that we shall preclude ourselves from

the advantage of any future discoveries; and we cannot hope to assemble

at once all the pamphlets which have been written in any age, or on any

subject.

It may be added, in vindication of our intended practice, that it is the

same with that of Photius, whose collections are no less miscellaneous

than ours, and who declares, that he leaves it to his reader, to reduce

his extracts under their proper heads.

Most of the pieces which shall be offered in this collection to the

publick, will be introduced by short prefaces, in which will be given

some account of the reasons for which they are inserted; notes will be

sometimes adjoined, for the explanation of obscure passages, or obsolete

expressions; and care will be taken to mingle use and pleasure through

the whole collection. Notwithstanding every subject may not be relished

by every reader, yet the buyer may be assured that each number will

repay his generous subscription.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Which begins thus, "Know ye, that We, considering and manifestly

perceiving, that several seditious and heretical books or tracts--

against the faith and sound catholick doctrine of holy mother, the

Church," &c.

[2] The pamphlets in the Harleian collection amounted in number to about

400,000. See Gough's Brit. Topog. 1669.

PREFACE TO THE CATALOGUE

OF THE

HARLEIAN LIBRARY, VOL. III.

Having prefixed to the former volumes of my catalogue an account of the

prodigious collection accumulated in the Harleian library, there would

have been no necessity of any introduction to the subsequent volumes,

had not some censures, which this great undertaking has drawn upon me,

made it proper to offer to the publick an apology for my conduct.

The price, which I have set upon my catalogue, has been represented by

the booksellers as an avaricious innovation; and, in a paper published

in the Champion, they, or their mercenary, have reasoned so justly, as

to allege, that, if I could afford a very large price for the library, I

might, therefore, afford to give away the catalogue.

I should have imagined that accusations, concerted by such heads as

these, would have vanished of themselves, without any answer; but, since

I have the mortification to find that they have been in some degree

regarded by men of more knowledge than themselves, I shall explain the

motives of my procedure.

My original design was, as I have already explained, to publish a

methodical and exact catalogue of this library, upon the plan which has

been laid down, as I am informed, by several men of the first rank among

the learned. It was intended by those who undertook the work, to make a

very exact disposition of all the subjects, and to give an account of

the remarkable differences of the editions, and other peculiarities,

which make any book eminently valuable: and it was imagined, that some

improvements might, by pursuing this scheme, be made in literary

history.

With this view was the catalogue begun, when the price was fixed upon it

in publick advertisements; and it cannot be denied, that such a

catalogue would have been willingly purchased by those who understood

its use. But, when a few sheets had been printed, it was discovered,

that the scheme was impracticable, without more hands than could be

procured, or more time than the necessity of a speedy sale would allow:

the catalogue was, therefore, continued without notes, at least in the

greatest part; and, though it was still performed better than those

which are daily offered to the publick, fell much below the original

design.

It was then no longer proper to insist upon a price; and, therefore,

though money was demanded, upon delivery of the catalogue, it was only

taken as a pledge that the catalogue was not, as is very frequent,

wantonly called for, by those who never intended to peruse it, and I,

therefore, promised that it should be taken again in exchange for any

book rated at the same value.

It may be still said, that other booksellers give away their catalogues

without any such precaution, and that I ought not to make any new or

extraordinary demands. But I hope it will be considered, at how much

greater expense my catalogue was drawn up: and be remembered, that when

other booksellers give their catalogues, they give only what will be of

no use when their books are sold, and what, if it remained in their

hands, they must throw away: whereas I hope that this catalogue will

retain its use, and, consequently, its value, and be sold with the

catalogues of the Barberinian and Marckian libraries.

However, to comply with the utmost expectations of the world, I have now

published the second part of my catalogue, upon conditions still more

commodious for the purchaser, as I intend, that all those who are

pleased to receive them at the same price of five shillings a volume,

shall be allowed, at any time, within three months after the day of

sale, either to return them in exchange for books, or to send them back,

and receive their money.

Since, therefore, I have absolutely debarred myself from receiving any

advantage from the sale of the catalogue, it will be reasonable to

impute it rather to necessity than choice, that I shall continue it to

two volumes more, which the number of the single tracts which have been

discovered, makes indispensably requisite. I need not tell those who are

acquainted with affairs of this kind, how much pamphlets swell a

catalogue, since the title of the least book may be as long as that of

the greatest.

Pamphlets have been for many years, in this nation, the canals of

controversy, politicks, and sacred history, and, therefore, will,

doubtless, furnish occasion to a very great number of curious remarks.

And I take this opportunity of proposing to those who are particularly

delighted with this kind of study, that, if they will encourage me, by a

reasonable subscription, to employ men qualified to make the

observations, for which this part of the catalogue will furnish

occasion, I will procure the whole fifth and sixth volumes[1] to be

executed in the same manner with the most laboured part of this, and

interspersed with notes of the same kind.

If any excuse were necessary for the addition of these volumes, I have

already urged in my defence the strongest plea, no less than absolute

necessity, it being impossible to comprise in four volumes, however

large, or however closely printed, the titles which yet remain to be

mentioned.

But, I suppose, none will blame the multiplication of volumes, to

whatever number they may be continued, which every one may use without

buying them, and which are, therefore, published at no expense but my

own.

There is one accusation still remaining, by which I am more sensibly

affected, and which I am, therefore, desirous to obviate, before it has

too long prevailed. I hear that I am accused of rating my books at too

high a price, at a price which no other person would demand. To answer

this accusation, it is necessary to inquire what those who urge it, mean

by a high price. The price of things, valuable for their rarity, is

entirely arbitrary, and depends upon the variable taste of mankind, and

the casual fluctuation of the fashion, and can never be ascertained,

like that of things only estimable according to their use.

If, therefore, I have set a high value upon books: if I have vainly

imagined literature to be more fashionable than it really is, or idly

hoped to revive a taste well nigh extinguished, I know not why I should

be persecuted with clamour and invective, since I only shall suffer by

my mistake, and be obliged to keep those books, which I was in hopes of

selling.

If those who charge me with asking a _high price_, will explain their

meaning, it may be possible to give them an answer less general. If they

measure the price at which the books are now offered, by that at which

they were bought by the late possessor, they will find it diminished at

least three parts in four; if they would compare it with the demands of

other booksellers, they must first find the same books in their hands,

and they will be, perhaps, at last reduced to confess, that they mean,

by a high price, only a price higher than they are inclined to give.

I have, at least, a right to hope, that no gentleman will receive an

account of the price from the booksellers, of whom it may easily be

imagined that they will be willing, since they cannot depreciate the

books, to exaggerate the price: and I will boldly promise those who have

been influenced by malevolent reports, that, if they will be pleased, at

the day of sale, to examine the prices with their own eyes, they will

find them lower than they have been represented.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] This scheme was never executed; the fifth volume, the only one

subsequently published, was a mere shop catalogue.

A VIEW OF THE CONTROVERSY BETWEEN

MONS. CROUSAZ AND MR. WARBURTON,

ON THE SUBJECT OF

MR. POPE'S ESSAY ON MAN,

In a Letter to the Editor of the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. xiii. 1743.

Mr. Urban,

It would not be found useless in the learned world, if in written

controversies as in oral disputations, a moderator could be selected,

who might, in some degree, superintend the debate, restrain all needless

excursions, repress all personal reflections, and, at last, recapitulate

the arguments on each side; and who, though he should not assume the

province of deciding the question, might at least exhibit it in its true

state.

This reflection arose in my mind upon the consideration of Mr. Crousaz's

commentary on the Essay on Man, and Mr. Warburton's answer to it. The

importance of the subject, the reputation and abilities of the

controvertists, and, perhaps, the ardour with which each has endeavoured

to support his cause, have made an attempt of this kind necessary for

the information of the greatest number of Mr. Pope's readers.

Among the duties of a moderator, I have mentioned that of recalling the

disputants to the subject, and cutting off the excrescences of a debate,

which Mr. Crousaz will not suffer to be long unemployed, and the

repression of personal invectives which have not been very carefully

avoided on either part, and are less excusable, because it has not been

proved, that, either the poet, or his commentator, wrote with any other

design than that of promoting happiness by cultivating reason and piety.

Mr. Warburton has, indeed, so much depressed the character of his

adversary, that before I consider the controversy between them, I think

it necessary to exhibit some specimens of Mr. Crousaz's sentiments, by

which it will probably be shown, that he is far from deserving either

indignation or contempt; that his notions are just, though they are

sometimes introduced without necessity; and defended when they are not

opposed; and that his abilities and piety are such as may entitle him to

reverence from those who think his criticisms superfluous.

In page 35 of the English translation, he exhibits an observation which

every writer ought to impress upon his mind, and which may afford a

sufficient apology for his commentary.

On the notion of a ruling passion he offers this remark: "Nothing so

much hinders men from obtaining a complete victory over their ruling

passion, as that all the advantages gained in their days of retreat, by

just and sober reflections, whether struck out by their own minds, or

borrowed from good books, or from the conversation of men of merit, are

destroyed in a few moments by a free intercourse and acquaintance with

libertines; and, thus, the work is always to be begun anew. A gamester

resolves to leave off play, by which he finds his health impaired, his

family ruined, and his passions inflamed; in this resolution he persists

a few days, but soon yields to an invitation, which will give his

prevailing inclination an opportunity of reviving in all its force. The

case is the same with other men; but is reason to be charged with these

calamities and follies, or rather the man who refuses to listen to its

voice in opposition to impertinent solicitations?"

On the means, recommended for the attainment of happiness, he observes,

"that the abilities which our Maker has given us, and the internal and

external advantages with which he has invested us, are of two very

different kinds; those of one kind are bestowed in common upon us and

the brute creation, but the other exalt us far above other animals. To

disregard any of these gifts would be ingratitude; but to neglect those

of greater excellence, to go no farther than the gross satisfactions of

sense, and the functions of mere animal life, would be a far greater

crime. We are formed by our Creator capable of acquiring knowledge, and

regulating our conduct by reasonable rules; it is, therefore, our duty

to cultivate our understandings, and exalt our virtues. We need but make

the experiment to find, that the greatest pleasures will arise from such

endeavours.

"It is trifling to allege, in opposition to this truth, that knowledge

cannot be acquired, nor virtue pursued, without toil and efforts, and

that all efforts produce fatigue. God requires nothing disproportioned

to the powers he has given, and in the exercise of those powers consists

the highest satisfaction.

"Toil and weariness are the effects of vanity: when a man has formed a

design of excelling others in merit, he is disquieted by their advances,

and leaves nothing unattempted, that he may step before them: this

occasions a thousand unreasonable emotions, which justly bring their

punishment along with them.

"But let a man study and labour to cultivate and improve his abilities

in the eye of his Maker, and with the prospect of his approbation; let

him attentively reflect on the infinite value of that approbation, and

the highest encomiums that men can bestow will vanish into nothing at

the comparison. When we live in this manner, we find that we live for a

great and glorious end.

"When this is our frame of mind, we find it no longer difficult to

restrain ourselves in the gratifications of eating and drinking, the

most gross enjoyments of sense. We take what is necessary to preserve

health and vigour, but are not to give ourselves up to pleasures that

weaken the attention, and dull the understanding."

And the true sense of Mr. Pope's assertion, that "Whatever is, is

right," and, I believe, the sense in which it was written, is thus

explained:--"A sacred and adorable order is established in the

government of mankind. These are certain and unvaried truths: he that

seeks God, and makes it his happiness to live in obedience to him, shall

obtain what he endeavours after, in a degree far above his present

comprehension. He that turns his back upon his Creator, neglects to obey

him, and perseveres in his disobedience, shall obtain no other happiness

than he can receive from enjoyments of his own procuring; void of

satisfaction, weary of life, wasted by empty cares and remorses, equally

harassing and just, he will experience the certain consequences of his

own choice. Thus will justice and goodness resume their empire, and that

order be restored which men have broken."

I am afraid of wearying you or your readers with more quotations, but if

you shall inform me that a continuation of my correspondence will be

well received, I shall descend to particular passages, show how Mr. Pope

gave sometimes occasion to mistakes, and how Mr. Crousaz was misled by

his suspicion of the system of fatality[1].

I am, Sir, yours, &c.

FOOTNOTE:

[1] It does not appear that Dr. Johnson found leisure or encouragement

to continue this subject any farther.

PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE

TO

THE LONDON CHRONICLE,

JANUARY 1, 1757.

It has always been lamented, that of the little time allotted to man,

much must be spent upon superfluities. Every prospect has its

obstructions, which we must break to enlarge our view; every step of our

progress finds impediments, which, however eager to go forward, we must

stop to remove. Even those who profess to teach the way to happiness,

have multiplied our encumbrances, and the author of almost every book

retards his instructions by a preface.

The writers of the Chronicle hope to be easily forgiven, though they

should not be free from an infection that has seized the whole

fraternity, and instead of falling immediately to their subjects, should

detain the reader for a time with an account of the importance of their

design, the extent of their plan, and the accuracy of the method which

they intend to prosecute. Such premonitions, though not always necessary

when the reader has the book complete in his hand, and may find, by his

own eyes, whatever can be found in it, yet may be more easily allowed to

works published gradually in successive parts, of which the scheme can

only be so far known as the author shall think fit to discover it.

The paper which we now invite the publick to add to the papers with

which it is already rather wearied than satisfied, consists of many

parts, some of which it has in common with other periodical sheets, and

some peculiar to itself.

The first demand, made by the reader of a journal, is, that he should

find an accurate account of foreign transactions and domestick

incidents. This is always expected, but this is very rarely performed.

Of those writers who have taken upon themselves the task of

intelligence, some have given and others have sold their abilities,

whether small or great, to one or other of the parties that divide us;

and without a wish for truth or thought of decency, without care of any

other reputation than that of a stubborn adherence to their abettors,

carry on the same tenour of representation through all the vicissitudes

of right and wrong, neither depressed by detection, nor abashed by

confutation, proud of the hourly increase of infamy, and ready to boast

of all the contumelies that falsehood and slander may bring upon them,

as new proofs of their zeal and fidelity.

With these heroes we have no ambition to be numbered; we leave to the

confessors of faction the merit of their sufferings, and are desirous to

shelter ourselves under the protection of truth. That all our facts will

be authentick, or all our remarks just, we dare not venture to promise:

we can relate but what we hear, we can point out but what we see. Of

remote transactions, the first accounts are always confused, and

commonly exaggerated: and in domestick affairs, if the power to conceal

is less, the interest to misrepresent is often greater; and, what is

sufficiently vexatious, truth seems to fly from curiosity, and as many

inquiries produce many narratives, whatever engages the publick

attention is immediately disguised by the embellishments of fiction. We

pretend to no peculiar power of disentangling contradiction or denuding

forgery, we have no settled correspondence with the antipodes, nor

maintain any spies in the cabinets of princes. But as we shall always be

conscious that our mistakes are involuntary, we shall watch the gradual

discoveries of time, and retract whatever we have hastily and

erroneously advanced.

In the narratives of the daily writers every reader perceives somewhat

of neatness and purity wanting, which, at the first view, it seems easy

to supply; but it must be considered, that those passages must be

written in haste, and, that there is often no other choice, but that

they must want either novelty or accuracy; and that, as life is very

uniform, the affairs of one week are so like those of another, that by

any attempt after variety of expression, invention would soon be

wearied, and language exhausted. Some improvements, however, we hope to

make; and for the rest we think that, when we commit only common faults,

we shall not be excluded from common indulgence.

The accounts of prices of corn and stocks are to most of our readers of

more importance than narratives of greater sound; and, as exactness is

here within the reach of diligence, our readers may justly require it

from us.

Memorials of a private and personal kind, which relate deaths,

marriages, and preferments, must always be imperfect by omission, and

often erroneous by misinformation; but even in these there shall not be

wanting care to avoid mistakes, or to rectify them, whenever they shall

be found.

That part of our work, by which it is distinguished from all others, is

the literary journal, or account of the labours and productions of the

learned. This was for a long time among the deficiencies of English

literature; but, as the caprice of man is always starting from too

little to too much, we have now, amongst other disturbers of human

quiet, a numerous body of reviewers and remarkers.

Every art is improved by the emulation of competitors; those who make no

advances towards excellence, may stand as warnings against faults. We

shall endeavour to avoid that petulance which treats with contempt

whatever has hitherto been reputed sacred. We shall repress that elation

of malignity, which wantons in the cruelties of criticism, and not only

murders reputation, but murders it by torture. Whenever we feel

ourselves ignorant we shall at least be modest. Our intention is not to

preoccupy judgment by praise or censure, but to gratify curiosity by

early intelligence, and to tell rather what our authors have attempted,

than what they have performed. The titles of books are necessarily

short, and, therefore, disclose but imperfectly the contents; they are

sometimes fraudulent and intended to raise false expectations. In our

account this brevity will be extended, and these frauds, whenever they

are detected, will be exposed; for though we write without intention to

injure, we shall not suffer ourselves to be made parties to deceit.

If any author shall transmit a summary of his work, we shall willingly

receive it; if any literary anecdote, or curious observation, shall be

communicated to us, we will carefully insert it. Many facts are known

and forgotten, many observations are made and suppressed; and

entertainment and instruction are frequently lost, for want of a

repository in which they may be conveniently preserved.

No man can modestly promise what he cannot ascertain: we hope for the

praise of knowledge and discernment, but we claim only that of diligence

and candour[1].

FOOTNOTE:

[1] Dr. Johnson received the humble reward of a guinea from Mr. Dodsley

for this composition.

INTRODUCTION

TO THE

WORLD DISPLAYED[1].

Navigation, like other arts, has been perfected by degrees. It is not

easy to conceive that any age or nation was without some vessel, in

which rivers might be passed by travellers, or lakes frequented by

fishermen; but we have no knowledge of any ship that could endure the

violence of the ocean before the ark of Noah.

As the tradition of the deluge has been transmitted to almost all the

nations of the earth, it must be supposed that the memory of the means,

by which Noah and his family were preserved, would be continued long

among their descendants, and that the possibility of passing the seas

could never be doubted.

What men know to be practicable, a thousand motives will incite them to

try; and there is reason to believe, that from the time that the

generations of the postdiluvian race spread to the seashores, there were

always navigators that ventured upon the sea, though, perhaps, not

willingly beyond the sight of land.

Of the ancient voyages little certain is known, and it is not necessary

to lay before the reader such conjectures as learned men have offered to

the world. The Romans, by conquering Carthage, put a stop to great part

of the trade of distant nations with one another, and because they

thought only on war and conquest, as their empire increased, commerce

was discouraged; till under the latter emperours, ships seem to have

been of little other use than to transport soldiers.

Navigation could not be carried to any great degree of certainty without

the compass, which was unknown to the ancients. The wonderful quality by

which a needle or small bar of steel, touched with a loadstone or

magnet, and turning freely by equilibration on a point, always preserves

the meridian, and directs its two ends north and south, was discovered,

according to the common opinion, in 1299, by John Gola of Amalfi, a town

in Italy.

From this time it is reasonable to suppose that navigation made

continual, though slow, improvements, which the confusion and barbarity

of the times, and the want of communication between orders of men so

distant as sailors and monks, hindered from being distinctly and

successively recorded.

It seems, however, that the sailors still wanted either knowledge or

courage, for they continued for two centuries to creep along the coast,

and considered every head-land as impassable, which ran far into the

sea, and against which the waves broke with uncommon agitation.

The first who is known to have formed the design of new discoveries, or

the first who had power to execute his purposes, was Don Henry the

fifth[2], son of John, the first king of Portugal, and Philippina,

sister of Henry the fourth of England. Don Henry, having attended his

father to the conquest of Ceuta, obtained, by conversation with the

inhabitants of the continent, some accounts of the interiour kingdoms

and southern coast of Africa; which, though rude and indistinct, were

sufficient to raise his curiosity, and convince him, that there were

countries yet unknown and worthy of discovery.

He, therefore, equipped some small vessels, and commanded that they

should pass, as far as they could, along that coast of Africa which

looked upon the great Atlantick ocean, the immensity of which struck the

gross and unskilful navigators of those times with terrour and

amazement. He was not able to communicate his own ardour to his seamen,

who proceeded very slowly in the new attempt; each was afraid to venture

much farther than he that went before him, and ten years were spent

before they had advanced beyond cape Bajador, so called from its

progression into the ocean, and the circuit by which it must be doubled.

The opposition of this promontory to the course of the sea, produced a

violent current and high waves, into which they durst not venture, and

which they had not yet knowledge enough to avoid, by standing off from

the land into the open sea.

The prince was desirous to know something of the countries that lay

beyond this formidable cape, and sent two commanders, named John

Gonzales Zarco, and Tristan Vas, in 1418, to pass beyond Bajador, and

survey the coast behind it. They were caught by a tempest, which drove

them out into the unknown ocean, where they expected to perish by the

violence of the wind, or, perhaps, to wander for ever in the boundless

deep. At last, in the midst of their despair, they found a small island,

where they sheltered themselves, and which the sense of their

deliverance disposed them to call Puerto Santo, or the Holy Haven.

When they returned with an account of this new island, Henry performed a

publick act of thanksgiving, and sent them again with seeds and cattle;

and we are told by the Spanish historian, that they set two rabbits on

shore, which increased so much in a few years, that they drove away the

inhabitants, by destroying their corn and plants, and were suffered to

enjoy the island without opposition.

In the second or third voyage to Puerto Santo, (for authors do not agree

which,) a third captain, called Perello, was joined to the two former.

As they looked round the island upon the ocean, they saw at a distance

something which they took for a cloud, till they perceived that it did

not change its place. They directed their course towards it, and, in

1419, discovered another island covered with trees, which they,

therefore, called Madera, or the Isle of Wood.

Madera was given to Vaz or Zarco, who set fire to the woods, which are

reported by Souza to have burnt for seven years together, and to have

been wasted, till want of wood was the greatest inconveniency of the

place. But green wood is not very apt to burn, and the heavy rains which

fall in these countries must, surely, have extinguished the

conflagration, were it ever so violent.

There was yet little progress made upon the southern coast, and Henry's

project was treated as chimerical by many of his countrymen. At last

Gilianes, in 1433, passed the dreadful cape, to which he gave the name

of Bajador, and came back, to the wonder of the nation.

In two voyages more, made in the two following years, they passed

forty-two leagues farther, and in the latter, two men with horses being

set on shore, wandered over the country, and found nineteen men, whom,

according to the savage mariners of that age, they attacked; the

natives, having javelins, wounded one of the Portuguese, and received

some wounds from them. At the mouth of a river they found sea-wolves in

great numbers, and brought home many of their skins, which were much

esteemed.

Antonio Gonzales, who had been one of the associates of Gilianes, was

sent again, in 1440, to bring back a cargo of the skins of sea-wolves.

He was followed in another ship by Nunno Tristam. They were now of

strength sufficient to venture upon violence; they, therefore, landed,

and, without either right or provocation, made all whom they seized

their prisoners, and brought them to Portugal, with great commendations

both from the prince and the nation.

Henry now began to please himself with the success of his projects, and,

as one of his purposes was the conversion of infidels, he thought it

necessary to impart his undertaking to the pope, and to obtain the

sanction of ecclesiastical authority. To this end Fernando Lopez

d'Azevedo was despatched to Rome, who related to the pope and cardinals

the great designs of Henry, and magnified his zeal for the propagation

of religion. The pope was pleased with the narrative, and by a formal

bull, conferred upon the crown of Portugal all the countries which

should be discovered as far as India, together with India itself, and

granted several privileges and indulgences to the churches which Henry

had built in his new regions, and to the men engaged in the navigation

for discovery. By this bull all other princes were forbidden to encroach

upon the conquests of the Portuguese, on pain of the censures incurred

by the crime of usurpation.

The approbation of the pope, the sight of men, whose manners and

appearance were so different from those of Europeans, and the hope of

gain from golden regions, which has been always the great incentive to

hazard and discovery, now began to operate with full force. The desire

of riches and of dominion, which is yet more pleasing to the fancy,

filled the court of the Portuguese prince with innumerable adventurers

from very distant parts of Europe. Some wanted to be employed in the

search after new countries, and some to be settled in those which had

been already found.

Communities now began to be animated by the spirit of enterprise, and

many associations were formed for the equipment of ships, and the

acquisition of the riches of distant regions, which, perhaps, were

always supposed to be more wealthy, as more remote. These undertakers

agreed to pay the prince a fifth part of the profit, sometimes a greater

share, and sent out the armament at their own expense.

The city of Lagos was the first that carried on this design by

contribution. The inhabitants fitted out six vessels, under the command

of Lucarot, one of the prince's household, and soon after fourteen more

were furnished for the same purpose, under the same commander; to those

were added many belonging to private men, so that, in a short time,

twenty-six ships put to sea in quest of whatever fortune should present.

The ships of Lagos were soon separated by foul weather, and the rest,

taking each its own course, stopped at different parts of the African

coast, from cape Blanco to cape Verd. Some of them, in 1444, anchored at

Gomera, one of the Canaries, where they were kindly treated by the

inhabitants, who took them into their service against the people of the

isle of Palma, with whom they were at war; but the Portuguese, at their

return to Gomera, not being made so rich as they expected, fell upon

their friends, in contempt of all the laws of hospitality and

stipulations of alliance, and, making several of them prisoners and

slaves, set sail for Lisbon.

The Canaries are supposed to have been known, however imperfectly, to

the ancients; but, in the confusion of the subsequent ages, they were

lost and forgotten, till, about the year 1340, the Biscayners found

Lucarot, and invading it, (for to find a new country, and invade it has

always been the same,) brought away seventy captives, and some

commodities of the place. Louis de la Cerda, count of Clermont, of the

blood royal both of France and Spain, nephew of John de la Cerda, who

called himself the Prince of Fortune, had once a mind to settle in those

islands, and applying himself first to the king of Arragon, and then to

Clement the sixth, was by the pope crowned at Avignon, king of the

Canaries, on condition that he should reduce them to the true religion;

but the prince altered his mind, and went into France to serve against

the English. The kings both of Castile and Portugal, though they did not

oppose the papal grant, yet complained of it, as made without their

knowledge, and in contravention of their rights.

The first settlement in the Canaries was made by John de Betancour, a

French gentleman, for whom his kinsman Robin de Braquement, admiral of

France, begged them, with the title of king, from Henry the magnificent

of Castile, to whom he had done eminent services. John made himself

master of some of the isles, but could never conquer the grand Canary;

and having spent all that he had, went back to Europe, leaving his

nephew, Massiot de Betancour, to take care of his new dominion. Massiot

had a quarrel with the vicar-general, and was, likewise, disgusted by

the long absence of his uncle, whom the French king detained in his

service, and being able to keep his ground no longer, he transferred his

rights to Don Henry, in exchange for some districts in the Madera, where

he settled his family.

Don Henry, when he had purchased those islands, sent thither, in 1424,

two thousand five hundred foot, and a hundred and twenty horse; but the

army was too numerous to be maintained by the country. The king of

Castile afterwards claimed them, as conquered by his subjects under

Betancour, and held under the crown of Castile by fealty and homage: his

claim was allowed, and the Canaries were resigned.

It was the constant practice of Henry's navigators, when they stopped at

a desert island, to land cattle upon it, and leave them to breed, where,

neither wanting room nor food, they multiplied very fast, and furnished

a very commodious supply to those who came afterwards to the same place.

This was imitated, in some degree, by Anson, at the isle of Juan

Fernandez.

The island of Madera he not only filled with inhabitants, assisted by

artificers of every kind, but procured such plants as seemed likely to

flourish in that climate, and introduced the sugar-canes and vines which

afterwards produced a very large revenue.

The trade of Africa now began to be profitable, but a great part of the

gain arose from the sale of slaves, who were annually brought into

Portugal, by hundreds, as Lafitau relates, and without any appearance of

indignation or compassion; they, likewise, imported gold dust in such

quantities, that Alphonso the fifth coined it into a new species of

money called Crusades, which is still continued in Portugal.

In time they made their way along the south coast of Africa, eastward to

the country of the negroes, whom they found living in tents, without any

political institutions, supporting life, with very little labour, by the

milk of their kine, and millet, to which those who inhabited the coast

added fish dried in the sun. Having never seen the natives, or heard of

the arts of Europe, they gazed with astonishment on the ships, when they

approached their coasts, sometimes thinking them birds, and sometimes

fishes, according as their sails were spread or lowered; and sometimes

conceiving them to be only phantoms, which played to and fro in the

ocean. Such is the account given by the historian, perhaps, with too

much prejudice against a negro's understanding, who, though he might

well wonder at the bulk and swiftness of the first ship, would scarcely

conceive it to be either a bird or a fish, but having seen many bodies

floating in the water, would think it, what it really is, a large boat;

and, if he had no knowledge of any means by which separate pieces of

timber may be joined together, would form very wild notions concerning

its construction, or, perhaps, suppose it to be a hollow trunk of a

tree, from some country where trees grow to a much greater height and

thickness than in his own.

When the Portuguese came to land, they increased the astonishment of the

poor inhabitants, who saw men clad in iron, with thunder and lightning

in their hands. They did not understand each other, and signs are a very

imperfect mode of communication, even to men of more knowledge than the

negroes, so that they could not easily negotiate or traffick: at last

the Portuguese laid hands on some of them, to carry them home for a

sample; and their dread and amazement was raised, says Lafitau, to the

highest pitch, when the Europeans fired their cannons and muskets among

them, and they saw their companions fall dead at their feet, without any

enemy at hand, or any visible cause of their destruction.

On what occasion, or for what purpose, cannons and muskets were

discharged among a people harmless and secure, by strangers who, without

any right, visited their coast, it is not thought necessary to inform

us. The Portuguese could fear nothing from them, and had, therefore, no

adequate provocation; nor is there any reason to believe but that they

murdered the negroes in wanton merriment, perhaps, only to try how many

a volley would destroy, or what would be the consternation of those that

should escape. We are openly told, that they had the less scruple

concerning their treatment of the savage people, because they scarcely

considered them as distinct from beasts; and, indeed, the practice of

all the European nations, and among others, of the English barbarians

that cultivate the southern islands of America, proves, that this

opinion, however absurd and foolish, however wicked and injurious, still

continues to prevail. Interest and pride harden the heart, and it is in

vain to dispute against avarice and power.

By these practices the first discoverers alienated the natives from

them; and whenever a ship appeared, every one that could fly betook

himself to the mountains and the woods, so that nothing was to be got

more than they could steal: they sometimes surprised a few fishers, and

made them slaves, and did what they could to offend the negroes, and

enrich themselves. This practice of robbery continued till some of the

negroes, who had been enslaved, learned the language of Portugal, so as

to be able to interpret for their countrymen, and one John Fernandez

applied himself to the negro tongue.

From this time began something like a regular traffick, such as can

subsist between nations where all the power is on one side; and a

factory was settled in the isle of Arguin, under the protection of a

fort. The profit of this new trade was assigned, for a certain term, to

Ferdinando Gomez; which seems to be the common method of establishing a

trade, that is yet too small to engage the care of a nation, and can

only be enlarged by that attention which is bestowed by private men upon

private advantage. Gomez continued the discoveries to cape Catharine,

two degrees and a half beyond the line.

In the latter part of the reign of Alphonso the fifth, the ardour of

discovery was somewhat intermitted, and all commercial enterprises were

interrupted by the wars in which he was engaged with various success.

But John the second, who succeeded, being fully convinced both of the

honour and advantage of extending his dominions in countries hitherto

unknown, prosecuted the designs of prince Henry with the utmost vigour,

and in a short time added to his other titles, that of king of Guinea

and of the coast of Africa.

In 1463, in the third year of the reign of John the second, died prince

Henry, the first encourager of remote navigation, by whose incitement,

patronage and example, distant nations have been made acquainted with

each other, unknown countries have been brought into general view, and

the power of Europe has been extended to the remotest parts of the

world. What mankind has lost and gained by the genius and designs of

this prince, it would be long to compare, and very difficult to

estimate. Much knowledge has been acquired, and much cruelty been

committed; the belief of religion has been very little propagated, and

its laws have been outrageously and enormously violated. The Europeans

have scarcely visited any coast, but to gratify avarice, and extend

corruption; to arrogate dominion without right, and practise cruelty

without incentive. Happy had it, then, been for the oppressed, if the

designs of Henry had slept in his bosom, and surely more happy for the

oppressors. But there is reason to hope that out of so much evil, good

may sometimes be produced; and that the light of the gospel will at last

illuminate the sands of Africa, and the deserts of America, though its

progress cannot but be slow, when it is so much obstructed by the lives

of Christians.

The death of Henry did not interrupt the progress of king John, who was

very strict in his injunctions, not only to make discoveries, but to

secure possession of the countries that were found. The practice of the

first navigators was only to raise a cross upon the coast, and to carve

upon trees the device of Don Henry, the name which they thought it

proper to give to the new coast, and any other information, for those

that might happen to follow them; but now they began to erect piles of

stone with a cross on the top, and engraved on the stone the arms of

Portugal, the name of the king, and of the commander of the ship, with

the day and year of the discovery. This was accounted sufficient to

prove their claim to the new lands; which might be pleaded, with justice

enough, against any other Europeans, and the rights of the original

inhabitants were never taken into notice. Of these stone records, nine

more were erected in the reign of king John, along the coast of Africa,

as far as the cape of Good Hope.

The fortress in the isle of Arguin was finished, and it was found

necessary to build another at S. Georgio de la Mina, a few degrees north

of the line, to secure the trade of gold dust, which was chiefly carried

on at that place. For this purpose a fleet was fitted out, of ten large

and three smaller vessels, freighted with materials for building the

fort, and with provisions and ammunition for six hundred men, of whom

one hundred were workmen and labourers. Father Lafitau relates, in very

particular terms, that these ships carried hewn stones, bricks, and

timber, for the fort, so that nothing remained but barely to erect it.

He does not seem to consider how small a fort could be made out of the

lading often ships.

The command of this fleet was given to Don Diego d'Azambue, who set sail

December 11, 1481, and reaching La Mina January 19, 1482, gave immediate

notice of his arrival to Caramansa, a petty prince of that part of the

country, whom he very earnestly invited to an immediate conference.

Having received a message of civility from the negro chief, he landed,

and chose a rising ground, proper for his intended fortress, on which he

planted a banner with the arms of Portugal, and took possession in the

name of his master. He then raised an altar at the foot of a great tree,

on which mass was celebrated, the whole assembly, says Lafitau, breaking

out into tears of devotion at the prospect of inviting these barbarous

nations to the profession of the true faith. Being secure of the

goodness of the end, they had no scruple about the means, nor ever

considered how differently from the primitive martyrs and apostles they

were attempting to make proselytes. The first propagators of

Christianity recommended their doctrines by their sufferings and

virtues; they entered no defenceless territories with swords in their

hands; they built no forts upon ground to which they had no right, nor

polluted the purity of religion with the avarice of trade, or insolence

of power.

What may still raise higher the indignation of a Christian mind, this

purpose of propagating truth appears never to have been seriously

pursued by any European nation; no means, whether lawful or unlawful,

have been practised with diligence and perseverance for the conversion

of savages. When a fort is built, and a factory established, there

remains no other care than to grow rich. It is soon found that ignorance

is most easily kept in subjection, and that by enlightening the mind

with truth, fraud and usurpation would be made less practicable and less

secure.

In a few days an interview was appointed between Caramansa and Azambue.

The Portuguese uttered, by his interpreter, a pompous speech, in which

he made the negro prince large offers of his master's friendship,

exhorting him to embrace the religion of his new ally; and told him,

that, as they came to form a league of friendship with him, it was

necessary that they should build a fort, which might serve as a retreat

from their common enemies, and in which the Portuguese might be always

at hand to lend him assistance.

The negro, who seemed very well to understand what the admiral intended,

after a short pause, returned an answer full of respect to the king of

Portugal, but appeared a little doubtful what to determine with relation

to the fort. The commander saw his diffidence, and used all his art of

persuasion to overcome it. Caramansa, either induced by hope, or

constrained by fear, either desirous to make them friends, or not daring

to make them enemies, consented, with a show of joy, to that which it

was not in his power to refuse; and the new comers began the next day to

break the ground for the foundation of a fort.

Within the limit of their intended fortification were some spots

appropriated to superstitious practices; which the negroes no sooner

perceived in danger of violation by the spade and pickaxe, than they ran

to arms, and began to interrupt the work. The Portuguese persisted in

their purpose, and there had soon been tumult and bloodshed, had not the

admiral, who was at a distance to superintend the unlading the materials

for the edifice, been informed of the danger. He was told, at the same

time, that the support of their superstition was only a pretence, and

that all their rage might be appeased by the presents which the prince

expected, the delay of which had greatly offended him.

The Portuguese admiral immediately ran to his men, prohibited all

violence, and stopped the commotion; he then brought out the presents,

and spread them with great pomp before the prince; if they were of no

great value, they were rare, for the negroes had never seen such wonders

before; they were, therefore, received with ecstacy, and, perhaps, the

Portuguese derided them for their fondness of trifles, without

considering how many things derive their value only from their scarcity,

and that gold and rubies would be trifles, if nature had scattered them

with less frugality.

The work was now peaceably continued, and such was the diligence with

which the strangers hastened to secure the possession of the country,

that in twenty days they had sufficiently fortified themselves against

the hostility of the negroes. They then proceeded to complete their

design.

A church was built in the place where the first altar had been raised,

on which a mass was established to be celebrated for ever once a day,

for the repose of the soul of Henry, the first mover of these

discoveries.

In this fort the admiral remained with sixty soldiers, and sent back the

rest in the ships, with gold, slaves, and other commodities. It may be

observed that slaves were never forgotten, and that, wherever they went,

they gratified their pride, if not their avarice, and brought some of

the natives, when it happened that they brought nothing else.

The Portuguese endeavoured to extend their dominions still farther. They

had gained some knowledge of the Jaloffs, a nation inhabiting the coast

of Guinea, between the Gambia and Senegal. The king of the Jaloffs being

vicious and luxurious, committed the care of the government to Bemoin,

his brother by the mother's side, in preference to two other brothers by

his father. Bemoin, who wanted neither bravery nor prudence, knew that

his station was invidious and dangerous, and, therefore, made an

alliance with the Portuguese, and retained them in his defence by

liberality and kindness. At last the king was killed by the contrivance

of his brothers, and Bemoin was to lose his power, or maintain it by

war.

He had recourse, in this exigence, to his great ally the king of

Portugal, who promised to support him, on condition that he should

become a Christian, and sent an ambassador, accompanied with

missionaries. Bemoin promised all that was required, objecting only,

that the time of a civil war was not a proper season for a change of

religion, which would alienate his adherents; but said, that when he was

once peaceably established, he would not only embrace the true religion

himself, but would endeavour the conversion of the kingdom.

This excuse was admitted, and Bemoin delayed his conversion for a year,

renewing his promise from time to time. But the war was unsuccessful,

trade was at a stand, and Bemoin was not able to pay the money which he

had borrowed of the Portuguese merchants, who sent intelligence to

Lisbon of his delays, and received an order from the king, commanding

them, under severe penalties, to return home.

Bemoin here saw his ruin approaching, and, hoping that money would

pacify all resentment, borrowed of his friends a sum sufficient to

discharge his debts; and finding that even this enticement would not

delay the departure of the Portuguese, he embarked his nephew in their

ships with a hundred slaves, whom he presented to the king of Portugal,

to solicit his assistance. The effect of this embassy he could not stay

to know; for being soon after deposed, he sought shelter in the fortress

of Arguin, whence he took shipping for Portugal, with twenty-five of his

principal followers.

The king of Portugal pleased his own vanity and that of his subjects, by

receiving him with great state and magnificence, as a mighty monarch who

had fled to an ally for succour in misfortune. All the lords and ladies

of the court were assembled, and Bemoin was conducted with a splendid

attendance into the hall of audience, where the king rose from his

throne to welcome him. Bemoin then made a speech with great ease and

dignity, representing his unhappy state, and imploring the favour of his

powerful ally. The king was touched with his affliction, and struck by

his wisdom.

The conversion of Bemoin was much desired by the king; and it was,

therefore, immediately, proposed to him that he should become a

Christian. Ecclesiasticks were sent to instruct him; and having now no

more obstacles from interest, he was easily persuaded to declare himself

whatever would please those on whom he now depended. He was baptized on

the third day of December, 1489, in the palace of the queen, with great

magnificence, and named John, after the king.

Some time was spent in feasts and sports on this great occasion, and the

negroes signalized themselves by many feats of agility, far surpassing

the power of Europeans, who, having more helps of art, are less diligent

to cultivate the qualities of nature. In the mean time twenty large

ships were fitted out, well manned, stored with ammunition, and laden

with materials necessary for the erection of a fort. With this powerful

armament were sent a great number of missionaries under the direction of

Alvarez the king's confessor. The command of this force, which filled

the coast of Africa with terrour, was given to Pedro Vaz d'Acugna,

surnamed Bisagu; who, soon after they had landed, not being well pleased

with his expedition, put an end to its inconveniencies, by stabbing

Bemoin suddenly to the heart. The king heard of this outrage with great

sorrow, but did not attempt to punish the murderer.

The king's concern for the restoration of Bemoin was not the mere effect

of kindness, he hoped by his help to facilitate greater designs. He now

began to form hopes of finding a way to the East Indies, and of

enriching his country by that gainful commerce: this he was encouraged

to believe practicable, by a map which the Moors had given to prince

Henry, and which subsequent discoveries have shown to be sufficiently

near to exactness, where a passage round the south-east part of Africa

was evidently described.

The king had another scheme, yet more likely to engage curiosity, and

not irreconcilable with his interest. The world had, for some time, been

filled with the report of a powerful Christian prince, called Prester

John, whose country was unknown, and whom some, after Paulus Venetus,

supposed to reign in the midst of Asia, and others in the depth of

Ethiopia, between the ocean and Red sea. The account of the African

Christians was confirmed by some Abyssinians who had travelled into

Spain, and by some friars that had visited the Holy Land; and the king

was extremely desirous of their correspondence and alliance.

Some obscure intelligence had been obtained, which made it seem probable

that a way might be found from the countries lately discovered, to those

of this far-famed monarch. In 1486, an ambassador came from the king of

Bemin, to desire that preachers might be sent to instruct him and his

subjects in the true religion. He related that, in the inland country,

three hundred and fifty leagues eastward from Bemin, was a mighty

monarch, called Ogane, who had jurisdiction, both spiritual and

temporal, over other kings; that the king of Bemin and his neighbours,

at their accession, sent ambassadors to him with rich presents, and

received from him the investiture of their dominions, and the marks of

sovereignty, which were a kind of sceptre, a helmet, and a latten cross,

without which they could not be considered as lawful kings; that this

great prince was never seen but on the day of audience, and then held

out one of his feet to the ambassador, who kissed it with great

reverence, and who, at his departure, had a cross of latten hung on his

neck, which ennobled him thenceforward, and exempted him from all

servile offices.

Bemoin had, likewise, told the king, that to the east of the kingdom of

Tombut, there was, among other princes, one that was neither Mahometan

nor idolater, but who seemed to profess a religion nearly resembling the

Christian. These informations, compared with each other, and with the

current accounts of Prester John, induced the king to an opinion, which,

though formed somewhat at hazard, is still believed to be right, that by

passing up the river Senegal his dominions would be found. It was,

therefore, ordered that, when the fortress was finished, an attempt

should be made to pass upward to the source of the river. The design

failed then, and has never yet succeeded.

Other ways, likewise, were tried of penetrating to the kingdom of

Prester John; for the king resolved to leave neither sea nor land

unsearched, till he should be found. The two messengers who were sent

first on this design, went to Jerusalem, and then returned, being

persuaded that, for want of understanding the language of the country,

it would be vain or impossible to travel farther. Two more were then

despatched, one of whom was Pedro de Covillan, the other, Alphonso de

Pavia; they passed from Naples to Alexandria, and then travelled to

Cairo, from whence they went to Aden, a town of Arabia, on the Red sea,

near its mouth. From Aden, Pavia set sail for Ethiopia, and Covillan for

the Indies. Covillan visited Canavar, Calicut, and Goa in the Indies,

and Sosula in the eastern Africa, thence he returned to Aden, and then

to Cairo, where he had agreed to meet Pavia. At Cairo he was informed

that Pavia was dead, but he met with two Portuguese Jews, one of whom

had given the king an account of the situation and trade of Ormus: they

brought orders to Covillan, that he should send one of them home with

the journal of his travels, and go to Ormus with the other.

Covillan obeyed the orders, sending an exact account of his adventures

to Lisbon, and proceeding with the other messenger to Ormus; where,

having made sufficient inquiry, he sent his companion homewards, with

the caravans that were going to Aleppo, and embarking once more on the

Red sea, arrived in time at Abyssinia, and found the prince whom he had

sought so long, and with such danger.

Two ships were sent out upon the same search, of which Bartholomew Diaz

had the chief command; they were attended by a smaller vessel laden with

provisions, that they might not return, upon pretence of want either

felt or feared.

Navigation was now brought nearer to perfection. The Portuguese claim

the honour of many inventions by which the sailor is assisted, and which

enable him to leave sight of land, and commit himself to the boundless

ocean. Diaz had orders to proceed beyond the river Zaire, where Diego

Can had stopped, to build monuments of his discoveries, and to leave

upon the coasts negro men and women well instructed, who might inquire

after Prester John, and fill the natives with reverence for the

Portuguese.

Diaz, with much opposition from his crew, whose mutinies he repressed,

partly by softness, and partly by steadiness, sailed on till he reached

the utmost point of Africa, which from the bad weather that he met

there, he called cabo Tormentoso, or the cape of Storms. He would have

gone forward, but his crew forced him to return. In his way back he met

the victualler, from which he had been parted nine months before; of the

nine men, which were in it at the separation, six had been killed by the

negroes, and of the three remaining, one died for joy at the sight of

his friends. Diaz returned to Lisbon in December, 1487, and gave an

account of his voyage to the king, who ordered the cape of Storms to be

called thenceforward cabo de Buena Esperanza, or the cape of Good Hope.

Some time before the expedition of Diaz, the river Zaire and the kingdom

of Congo had been discovered by Diego Can, who found a nation of negroes

who spoke a language which those that were in his ships could not

understand. He landed, and the natives, whom he expected to fly, like

the other inhabitants of the coast, met them with confidence, and

treated them with kindness; but Diego, finding that they could not

understand each other, seized some of their chiefs, and carried them to

Portugal, leaving some of his own people in their room to learn the

language of Congo.

The negroes were soon pacified, and the Portuguese left to their mercy

were well treated; and, as they by degrees grew able to make themselves

understood, recommended themselves, their nation, and their religion.

The king of Portugal sent Diego back in a very short time with the

negroes whom he had forced away; and when they were set safe on shore,

the king of Congo conceived so much esteem for Diego, that he sent one

of those, who had returned, back again in the ship to Lisbon, with two

young men despatched as ambassadors, to desire instructors to be sent

for the conversion of his kingdom.

The ambassadors were honourably received, and baptized with great pomp,

and a fleet was immediately fitted out for Congo, under the command of

Gonsalvo Sorza, who dying in his passage, was succeeded in authority by

his nephew Roderigo.

When they came to land, the king's uncle, who commanded the province,

immediately requested to be solemnly initiated into the Christian

religion, which was granted to him and his young son, on Easter day,

1491. The father was named Manuel, and the son Antonio. Soon afterwards

the king, queen, and eldest prince, received at the font the names of

John, Eleanor, and Alphonso; and a war breaking out, the whole army was

admitted to the rites of Christianity, and then sent against the enemy.

They returned victorious, but soon forgot their faith, and formed a

conspiracy to restore paganism; a powerful opposition was raised by

infidels and apostates, headed by one of the king's younger sons; and

the missionaries had been destroyed, had not Alphonso pleaded for them

and for Christianity.

The enemies of religion now became the enemies of Alphonso, whom they

accused to his father of disloyalty. His mother, queen Eleanor, gained

time by one artifice after another, till the king was calmed; he then

heard the cause again, declared his son innocent, and punished his

accusers with death.

The king died soon after, and the throne was disputed by Alphonso,

supported by the Christians, and Aquitimo his brother, followed by the

infidels. A battle was fought, Aquitimo was taken and put to death, and

Christianity was for a time established in Congo; but the nation has

relapsed into its former follies.

Such was the state of the Portuguese navigation, when, in 1492, Columbus

made the daring and prosperous voyage, which gave a new world to

European curiosity and European cruelty. He had offered his proposal,

and declared his expectations to king John of Portugal, who had slighted

him as a fanciful and rash projector, that promised what he had not

reasonable hopes to perform. Columbus had solicited other princes, and

had been repulsed with the same indignity; at last, Isabella of Arragon

furnished him with ships, and having found America, he entered the mouth

of the Tagus in his return, and showed the natives of the new country.

When he was admitted to the king's presence, he acted and talked with so

much haughtiness, and reflected on the neglect which he had undergone

with so much acrimony, that the courtiers, who saw their prince

insulted, offered to destroy him; but the king, who knew that he

deserved the reproaches that had been used, and who now sincerely

regretted his incredulity, would suffer no violence to be offered him,

but dismissed him with presents and with honours.

The Portuguese and Spaniards became now jealous of each other's claim to

countries which neither had yet seen; and the pope, to whom they

appealed, divided the new world between them by a line drawn from north

to south, a hundred leagues westward from cape Verd and the Azores,

giving all that lies west from that line to the Spaniards, and all that

lies east to the Portuguese. This was no satisfactory division, for the

east and west must meet at last, but that time was then at a great

distance.

According to this grant, the Portuguese continued their discoveries

eastward, and became masters of much of the coast both of Africa and the

Indies; but they seized much more than they could occupy, and while they

were under the dominion of Spain, lost the greater part of their Indian

territories.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] A collection of Voyages and Travels, selected from the writers of

all nations, in twenty small pocket volumes, and published by

Newbery; to oblige whom, it is conjectured that Johnson drew up this

curious and learned paper, which appeared in the first volume,

1759.

[2] Read Mickle's very excellent introduction to his translation of

Camoens' Lusiad.--Ed.

THE PREFACE

TO THE PRECEPTOR,

CONTAINING

A GENERAL PLAN OF EDUCATION[1]

The importance of education is a point so generally understood and

confessed, that it would be of little use to attempt any new proof or

illustration of its necessity and advantages.

At a time, when so many schemes of education have been projected, so

many proposals offered to the publick, so many schools opened for

general knowledge, and so many lectures in particular sciences attended;

at a time when mankind seems intent rather upon familiarizing than

enlarging the several arts; and every age, sex, and profession, is

invited to an acquaintance with those studies, which were formerly

supposed accessible only to such as had devoted themselves to literary

leisure, and dedicated their powers to philosophical inquiries; it seems

rather requisite that an apology should be made for any further attempt

to smooth a path so frequently beaten, or to recommend attainments so

ardently pursued, and so officiously directed.

That this general desire may not be frustrated, our schools seem yet to

want some book, which may excite curiosity by its variety, encourage

diligence by its facility, and reward application by its usefulness. In

examining the treatises, hitherto offered to the youth of this nation,

there appeared none that did not fail in one or other of these essential

qualities; none that were not either unpleasing, or abstruse, or crowded

with learning very rarely applicable to the purposes of common life.

Every man, who has been engaged in teaching, knows with how much

difficulty youthful minds are confined to close application, and how

readily they deviate to any thing, rather than attend to that which is

imposed as a task. That this disposition, when it becomes inconsistent

with the forms of education, is to be checked, will readily be granted;

but since, though it may be in some degree obviated, it cannot wholly be

suppressed, it is surely rational to turn it to advantage, by taking

care that the mind shall never want objects on which its faculties may

be usefully employed. It is not impossible, that this restless desire of

novelty, which gives so much trouble to the teacher, may be often the

struggle of the understanding starting from that to which it is not by

nature adapted, and travelling in search of something on which it may

fix with greater satisfaction. For, without supposing each man

particularly marked out by his genius for particular performances, it

may be easily conceived, that when a numerous class of boys is confined

indiscriminately to the same forms of composition, the repetition of the

same words, or the explication of the same sentiments, the employment

must, either by nature or accident, be less suitable to some than

others; that the ideas to be contemplated may be too difficult for the

apprehension of one, and too obvious for that of another: they may be

such as some understandings cannot reach, though others look down upon

them, as below their regard. Every mind, in its progress through the

different stages of scholastick learning, must be often in one of these

conditions; must either flag with the labour, or grow wanton with the

facility of the work assigned; and in either state it naturally turns

aside from the track before it. Weariness looks out for relief, and

leisure for employment, and, surely, it is rational to indulge the

wanderings of both. For the faculties which are too lightly burdened

with the business of the day, may, with great propriety, add to it some

other inquiry; and he that finds himself overwearied by a task, which,

perhaps, with all his efforts, he is not able to perform, is undoubtedly

to be justified in addicting himself rather to easier studies, and

endeavouring to quit that which is above his attainment, for that which

nature has not made him incapable of pursuing with advantage.

That, therefore, this roving curiosity may not be unsatisfied, it seems

necessary to scatter in its way such allurements as may withhold it from

an useless and unbounded dissipation; such as may regulate it without

violence, and direct it without restraint; such as may suit every

inclination, and fit every capacity; may employ the stronger genius, by

operations of reason, and engage the less active or forcible mind, by

supplying it with easy knowledge, and obviating that despondence, which

quickly prevails, when nothing appeals but a succession of difficulties,

and one labour only ceases that another may be imposed.

A book, intended thus to correspond with all dispositions, and afford

entertainment for minds of different powers, is necessarily to contain

treatises on different subjects. As it is designed for schools, though

for the higher classes, it is confined wholly to such parts of knowledge

as young minds may comprehend; and, as it is drawn up for readers yet

unexperienced in life, and unable to distinguish the useful from the

ostentatious or unnecessary parts of science, it is requisite that a

very nice distinction should be made, that nothing unprofitable should

be admitted for the sake of pleasure, nor any arts of attraction

neglected, that might fix the attention upon more important studies.

These considerations produced the book which is here offered to the

publick, as better adapted to the great design of pleasing by

instruction, than any which has hitherto been admitted into our

seminaries of literature. There are not indeed wanting in the world

compendiums of science, but many were written at a time when philosophy

was imperfect, as that of G. Valla; many contain only naked schemes, or

synoptical tables, as that of Stierius; and others are too large and

voluminous, as that of Alstedius; and, what is not to be considered as

the least objection, they are generally in a language, which, to boys,

is more difficult than the subject; and it is too hard a task to be

condemned to learn a new science in an unknown tongue. As in life, so in

study, it is dangerous to do more things than one at a time; and the

mind is not to be harassed with unnecessary obstructions, in a way, of

which the natural and unavoidable asperity is such as too frequently

produces despair.

If the language, however, had been the only objection to any of the

volumes already extant, the schools might have been supplied at a small

expense by a translation; but none could be found that was not so

defective, redundant, or erroneous, as to be of more danger than use. It

was necessary then to examine, whether upon every single science there

was not some treatise written for the use of scholars, which might be

adapted to this design, so that a collection might be made from

different authors, without the necessity of writing new systems. This

search was not wholly without success; for two authors were found, whose

performances might be admitted with little alteration. But so widely

does this plan differ from all others, so much has the state of many

kinds of learning been changed, or so unfortunately have they hitherto

been cultivated, that none of the other subjects were explained in such

a manner as was now required; and, therefore, neither care nor expense

has been spared to obtain new lights, and procure to this book the merit

of an original.

With what judgment the design has been formed, and with what skill it

has been executed, the learned world is now to determine. But before

sentence shall pass, it is proper to explain more fully what has been

intended, that censure may not be incurred by the omission of that which

the original plan did not comprehend; to declare more particularly who

they are to whose instructions these treatises pretend, that a charge of

arrogance and presumption may be obviated; to lay down the reasons which

directed the choice of the several subjects; and to explain more

minutely the manner in which each particular part of these volumes is to

be used.

The title has already declared, that these volumes are particularly

intended for the use of schools, and, therefore, it has been the care of

the authors to explain the several sciences, of which they have treated,

in the most familiar manner; for the mind, used only to common

expressions, and inaccurate ideas, does not suddenly conform itself to

scholastick modes of reasoning, or conceive the nice distinctions of a

subtile philosophy, and may be properly initiated in speculative studies

by an introduction like this, in which the grossness of vulgar

conception is avoided, without the observation of metaphysical

exactness. It is observed, that in the course of the natural world no

change is instantaneous, but all its vicissitudes are gradual and slow;

the motions of intellect proceed in the like imperceptible progression,

and proper degrees of transition from one study to another are,

therefore, necessary; but let it not be charged upon the writers of this

book, that they intended to exhibit more than the dawn of knowledge, or

pretended to raise in the mind any nobler product than the blossoms of

science, which more powerful institutions may ripen into fruit.

For this reason it must not be expected, that in the following pages

should be found a complete circle of the sciences; or that any authors,

now deservedly esteemed, should be rejected to make way for what is here

offered. It was intended by the means of these precepts, not to deck the

mind with ornaments, but to protect it from nakedness; not to enrich it

with affluence, but to supply it with necessaries. The inquiry,

therefore, was not what degrees of knowledge are desirable, but what are

in most stations of life indispensably required; and the choice was

determined, not by the splendour of any part of literature, but by the

extent of its use, and the inconvenience which its neglect was likely to

produce.

1. The prevalence of this consideration appears in the first part, which

is appropriated to the humble purposes of teaching to read, and speak,

and write letters; an attempt of little magnificence, but in which no

man needs to blush for having employed his time, if honour be estimated

by use. For precepts of this kind, however neglected, extend their

importance as far as men are found who communicate their thoughts one to

another; they are equally useful to the highest and the lowest; they may

often contribute to make ignorance less inelegant; and may it not be

observed, that they are frequently wanted for the embellishment even of

learning?

In order to show the proper use of this part, which consists of various

exemplifications of such differences of style as require correspondent

diversities of pronunciation, it will be proper to inform the scholar,

that there are, in general, three forms of style, each of which demands

its particular mode of elocution: the familiar, the solemn, and the

pathetick. That in the familiar, he that reads is only to talk with a

paper in his hand, and to indulge himself in all the lighter liberties

of voice, as when he reads the common articles of a newspaper, or a

cursory letter of intelligence or business. That the solemn style, such

as that of a serious narrative, exacts an uniform steadiness of speech,

equal, clear, and calm. That for the pathetick, such as an animated

oration, it is necessary the voice be regulated by the sense, varying

and rising with the passions. These rules, which are the most general,

admit a great number of subordinate observations, which must be

particularly adapted to every scholar; for it is observable, that though

very few read well, yet every man errs in a different way. But let one

remark never be omitted: inculcate strongly to every scholar the danger

of copying the voice of another; an attempt which, though it has been

often repeated, is always unsuccessful.

The importance of writing letters with propriety, justly claims to be

considered with care, since, next to the power of pleasing with his

presence, every man would wish to be able to give delight at a distance.

This great art should be diligently taught, the rather, because of those

letters which are most useful, and by which the general business of life

is transacted, there are no examples easily to be found. It seems the

general fault of those who undertake this part of education, that they

propose for the exercise of their scholars, occasions which rarely

happen; such as congratulations and condolences, and neglect those

without which life cannot proceed. It is possible to pass many years

without the necessity of writing panegyricks or epithalamiums; but every

man has frequent occasion to state a contract, or demand a debt, or make

a narrative of some minute incidents of common life. On these subjects,

therefore, young persons should be taught to think justly, and write

clearly, neatly, and succinctly, lest they come from school into the

world without any acquaintance with common affairs, and stand idle

spectators of mankind, in expectation that some great event will give

them an opportunity to exert their rhetorick.

2. The second place is assigned to geometry; on the usefulness of which

it is unnecessary to expatiate in an age when mathematical studies have

so much engaged the attention of all classes of men. This treatise is

one of those which have been borrowed, being a translation from the work

of Mr. Le Clerc; and is not intended as more than the first initiation.

In delivering the fundamental principles of geometry, it is necessary to

proceed by slow steps, that each proposition may be fully understood

before another is attempted. For which purpose it is not sufficient,

that when a question is asked in the words of the book, the scholar,

likewise, can in the words of the book return the proper answer; for

this may be only an act of memory, not of understanding: it is always

proper to vary the words of the question, to place the proposition in

different points of view, and to require of the learner an explanation

in his own terms, informing him, however, when they are improper. By

this method the scholar will become cautious and attentive, and the

master will know with certainty the degree of his proficiency. Yet,

though this rule is generally right, I cannot but recommend a precept of

Pardie's[2], that when the student cannot be made to comprehend some

particular part, it should be, for that time, laid aside, till new light

shall arise from subsequent observation.

When this compendium is completely understood, the scholar may proceed

to the perusal of Tacquet, afterwards of Euclid himself, and then of the

modern improvers of geometry, such as Barrow, Keil, and Sir Isaac

Newton.

3. The necessity of some acquaintance with geography and astronomy will

not be disputed. If the pupil is born to the ease of a large fortune, no

part of learning is more necessary to him than the knowledge of the

situation of nations, on which their interests generally depend; if he

is dedicated to any of the learned professions, it is scarcely possible

that he will not be obliged to apply himself, in some part of his life,

to these studies, as no other branch of literature can be fully

comprehended without them; if he is designed for the arts of commerce or

agriculture, some general acquaintance with these sciences will be found

extremely useful to him; in a word, no studies afford more extensive,

more wonderful, or more pleasing scenes; and, therefore, there can be no

ideas impressed upon the soul, which can more conduce to its future

entertainment.

In the pursuit of these sciences, it will be proper to proceed with the

same gradation and caution as in geometry. And it is always of use to

decorate the nakedness of science, by interspersing such observations

and narratives as may amuse the mind, and excite curiosity. Thus, in

explaining the state of the polar regions, it might be fit to read the

narrative of the Englishmen that wintered in Greenland, which will make

young minds sufficiently curious after the cause of such a length of

night, and intenseness of cold; and many stratagems of the same kind

might be practised to interest them in all parts of their studies, and

call in their passions to animate their inquiries. When they have read

this treatise, it will be proper to recommend to them Varenius's

Geography, and Ferguson's Astronomy.

4. The study of chronology and history seems to be one of the most

natural delights of the human mind. It is not easy to live, without

inquiring by what means every thing was brought into the state in which

we now behold it, or without finding in the mind some desire of being

informed, concerning the generations of mankind that have been in

possession of the world before us, whether they were better or worse

than ourselves; or what good or evil has been derived to us from their

schemes, practices, and institutions. These are inquiries which history

alone can satisfy; and history can only be made intelligible by some

knowledge of chronology, the science by which events are ranged in their

order, and the periods of computation are settled; and which, therefore,

assists the memory by method, and enlightens the judgment by showing the

dependence of one transaction on another. Accordingly it should be

diligently inculcated to the scholar, that, unless he fixes in his mind

some idea of the time in which each man of eminence lived, and each

action was performed, with some part of the contemporary history of the

rest of the world, he will consume his life in useless reading, and

darken his mind with a crowd of unconnected events; his memory will be

perplexed with distant transactions resembling one another, and his

reflections be like a dream in a fever, busy and turbulent, but confused

and indistinct.

The technical part of chronology, or the art of computing and adjusting

time, as it is very difficult, so it is not of absolute necessity, but

should, however, be taught, so far as it can be learned without the loss

of those hours which are required for attainments of nearer concern. The

student may join with this treatise Le Clerc's Compendium of History;

and afterwards may, for the historical part of chronology, procure

Helvicus's and Isaacson's Tables; and, if he is desirous of attaining

the technical part, may first peruse Holder's Account of Time, Hearne's

Ductor Historicus, Strauchius, the first part of Petavius's Rationarium

Temporum; and, at length, Scaliger de Emendatiene Temporum. And, for

instruction in the method of his historical studies, he may consult

Hearne's Ductor Historicus, Wheare's Lectures, Rawlinson's Directions

for the Study of History; and, for ecclesiastical history, Cave and

Dupin, Baronius and Fleury.

5. Rhetorick and poetry supply life with its highest intellectual

pleasures; and, in the hands of virtue, are of great use for the

impression of just sentiments, and recommendation of illustrious

examples. In the practice of these great arts, so much more is the

effect of nature than the effect of education, that nothing is attempted

here but to teach the mind some general heads of observation, to which

the beautiful passages of the best writers may commonly be reduced. In

the use of this, it is not proper that the teacher should confine

himself to the examples before him; for, by that method, he will never

enable his pupils to make just application of the rules; but, having

inculcated the true meaning of each figure, he should require them to

exemplify it by their own observations, pointing to them the poem, or,

in longer works, the book or canto in which an example may be found, and

leaving them to discover the particular passage, by the light of the

rules which they have lately learned.

For a farther progress in these studies, they may consult Quintilian,

and Vossius's Rhetorick; the art of poetry will be best learned from

Bossu and Bohours in French, together with Dryden's Essays and Prefaces,

the critical Papers of Addison, Spence on Pope's Odyssey, and Trapp's

Praelectiones Poeticae: but a more accurate and philosophical account is

expected from a commentary upon Aristotle's Art of Poetry, with which

the literature of this nation will be, in a short time, augmented.

6. With regard to the practice of drawing, it is not necessary to give

any directions, the use of the treatise being only to teach the proper

method of imitating the figures which are annexed. It will be proper to

incite the scholars to industry, by showing in other books the use of

the art, and informing them how much it assists the apprehension, and

relieves the memory; and if they are obliged sometimes to write

descriptions of engines, utensils, or any complex pieces of workmanship,

they will more fully apprehend the necessity of an expedient which so

happily supplies the defects of language, and enables the eye to

conceive what cannot be conveyed to the mind any other way. When they

have read this treatise, and practised upon these figures, their theory

may be improved by the Jesuit's Perspective, and their manual operations

by other figures which may be easily procured.

7. Logick, or the art of arranging and connecting ideas, of forming and

examining arguments, is universally allowed to be an attainment, in the

utmost degree, worthy the ambition of that being whose highest honour is

to be endued with reason; but it is doubted whether that ambition has

yet been gratified, and whether the powers of ratiocination have been

much improved by any systems of art, or methodical institutions. The

logick, which for so many ages kept possession of the schools, has at

last been condemned as a mere art of wrangling, of very little use in

the pursuit of truth; and later writers have contented themselves with

giving an account of the operations of the mind, marking the various

stages of her progress, and giving some general rules for the regulation

of her conduct. The method of these writers is here followed; but

without a servile adherence to any, and with endeavours to make

improvements upon all. This work, however laborious, has yet been

fruitless, if there be truth in an observation very frequently made,

that logicians out of the school do not reason better than men

unassisted by those lights which their science is supposed to bestow. It

is not to be doubted but that logicians may be sometimes overborne by

their passions, or blinded by their prejudices; and that a man may

reason ill, as he may act ill, not because he does not know what is

right, but because he does not regard it; yet it is no more the fault of

his art that it does not direct him, when his attention is withdrawn

from it, than it is the defect of his sight that he misses his way, when

he shuts his eyes. Against this cause of errour there is no provision to

be made, otherwise than by inculcating the value of truth, and the

necessity of conquering the passions. But logick may, likewise, fail to

produce its effects upon common occasions, for want of being frequently

and familiarly applied, till its precepts may direct the mind

imperceptibly, as the fingers of a musician are regulated by his

knowledge of the tune. This readiness of recollection is only to be

procured by frequent impression; and, therefore, it will be proper, when

logick has been once learned, the teacher take frequent occasion, in the

most easy and familiar conversation, to observe when its rules are

preserved, and when they are broken; and that afterwards he read no

authors, without exacting of his pupil an account of every remarkable

exemplification or breach of the laws of reasoning.

When this system has been digested, if it be thought necessary to

proceed farther in the study of method, it will be proper to recommend

Crousaz, Watts, Le Clerc, Wolfius, and Locke's Essay on Human

Understanding; and if there be imagined any necessity of adding the

peripatetick logick, which has been, perhaps, condemned without a candid

trial, it will be convenient to proceed to Sanderson, Wallis,

Crackanthorp, and Aristotle.

8. To excite a curiosity after the works of God, is the chief design of

the small specimen of natural history inserted in this collection;

which, however, may be sufficient to put the mind in motion, and in some

measure to direct its steps; but its effects may easily be improved by a

philosophick master, who will every day find a thousand opportunities of

turning the attention of his scholars to the contemplation of the

objects that surround them, of laying open the wonderful art with which

every part of the universe is formed, and the providence which governs

the vegetable and animal creation. He may lay before them the Religious

Philosopher, Ray, Derham's Physico-Theology, together with the Spectacle

de la Nature; and in time recommend to their perusal Rondoletius,

Aldrovandus, and Linnæus.

9. But how much soever the reason may be strengthened by logick, or the

conceptions of the mind enlarged by the study of nature, it is necessary

the man be not suffered to dwell upon them so long as to neglect the

study of himself, the knowledge of his own station in the ranks of

being, and his various relations to the innumerable multitudes which

surround him, and with which his Maker has ordained him to be united for

the reception and communication of happiness. To consider these aright

is of the greatest importance, since from these arise duties which he

cannot neglect. Ethicks, or morality, therefore, is one of the studies

which ought to begin with the first glimpse of reason, and only end with

life itself. Other acquisitions are merely temporary benefits, except as

they contribute to illustrate the knowledge, and confirm the practice of

morality and piety, which extend their influence beyond the grave, and

increase our happiness through endless duration.

This great science, therefore, must be inculcated with care and

assiduity, such as its importance ought to incite in reasonable minds;

and for the prosecution of this design, fit opportunities are always at

hand. As the importance of logick is to be shown by detecting false

arguments, the excellence of morality is to be displayed by proving the

deformity, the reproach, and the misery of all deviations from it. Yet

it is to be remembered, that the laws of mere morality are of no

coercive power; and, however they may, by conviction, of their fitness

please the reasoner in the shade, when the passions stagnate without

impulse, and the appetites are secluded from their objects, they will be

of little force against the ardour of desire, or the vehemence of rage,

amidst the pleasures and tumults of the world. To counteract the power

of temptations, hope must be excited by the prospect of rewards, and

fear by the expectation of punishment; and virtue may owe her

panegyricks to morality, but must derive her authority from religion.

When, therefore, the obligations of morality are taught, let the

sanctions of Christianity never be forgotten; by which it will be shown

that they give strength and lustre to each other; religion will appear

to be the voice of reason, and morality the will of God. Under this

article must be recommended Tully's Offices, Grotius, Puffendorf,

Cumberland's Laws of Nature, and the excellent Mr. Addison's Moral and

Religious Essays.

10. Thus far the work is composed for the use of scholars, merely as

they are men. But it was thought necessary to introduce something that

might be particularly adapted to that country for which it is designed;

and, therefore, a discourse has been added upon trade and commerce, of

which it becomes every man of this nation to understand, at least, the

general principles, as it is impossible that any should be high or low

enough not to be, in some degree, affected by their declension or

prosperity. It is, therefore, necessary that it should be universally

known among us, what changes of property are advantageous, or when the

balance of trade is on our side; what are the products or manufactures

of other countries; and how far one nation may in any species of

traffick obtain or preserve superiority over another. The theory of

trade is yet but little understood, and, therefore, the practice is

often without real advantage to the publick; but it might be carried on

with more general success, if its principles were better considered; and

to excite that attention is our chief design. To the perusal of this

part of our work may succeed that of Mun upon Foreign Trade, Sir Josiah

Child, Locke upon Coin, Davenant's Treatises, the British Merchant,

Dictionnaire de Commerce, and, for an abstract or compendium, Gee, and

an improvement that may, hereafter, be made upon his plan.

11. The principles of laws and government come next to be considered; by

which men are taught to whom obedience is due, for what it is paid, and

in what degree it may be justly required. This knowledge, by peculiar

necessity, constitutes a part of the education of an Englishman, who

professes to obey his prince, according to the law, and who is himself a

secondary legislator, as he gives his consent, by his representative, to

all the laws by which he is bound, and has a right to petition the great

council of the nation, whenever he thinks they are deliberating upon an

act detrimental to the interest of the community. This is, therefore, a

subject to which the thoughts of a young man ought to be directed; and,

that he may obtain such knowledge as may qualify him to act and judge as

one of a free people, let him be directed to add to this introduction

Fortescue's Treatises, N. Bacon's Historical Discourse on the Laws and

Government of England, Blackstone's Commentaries, Temple's Introduction,

Locke on Government, Zouch's Elementa Juris Civilis, Plato Redivivus,

Gurdon's History of Parliaments, and Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity.

12. Having thus supplied the young student with knowledge, it remains

now that he learn its application; and that thus qualified to act his

part, he be at last taught to choose it. For this purpose a section is

added upon human life and manners; in which he is cautioned against the

danger of indulging his passions, of vitiating his habits, and depraving

his sentiments. He is instructed in these points by three fables, two of

which were of the highest authority in the ancient pagan world. But at

this he is not to rest; for, if he expects to be wise and happy, he must

diligently study the Scriptures of God.

Such is the book now proposed, as the first initiation into the

knowledge of things, which has been thought by many to be too long

delayed in the present forms of education. Whether the complaints be not

often ill-grounded, may, perhaps, be disputed; but it is at least

reasonable to believe, that greater proficiency might sometimes be made;

that real knowledge might be more early communicated; and that children

might be allowed, without injury to health, to spend many of those hours

upon useful employments, which are generally lost in idleness and play;

therefore the publick will surely encourage an experiment, by which, if

it fails, nobody is hurt; and, if it succeeds, all the future ages of

the world may find advantage; which may eradicate or prevent vice, by

turning to a better use those moments in which it is learned or

indulged; and in some sense lengthen life, by teaching posterity to

enjoy those years which have hitherto been lost. The success, and even

the trial of this experiment, will depend upon those to whom the care of

our youth is committed; and a due sense of the importance of their trust

will easily prevail upon them to encourage a work which pursues the

design of improving education. If any part of the following performance

shall, upon trial, be found capable of amendment; if any thing can be

added or altered, so as to render the attainment of knowledge more easy;

the editor will be extremely obliged to any gentleman, particularly

those who are engaged in the business of teaching, for such hints or

observations as may tend towards the improvement, and will spare neither

expense nor trouble in making the best use of their information.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] In this year, 1748, Mr. Dodsley brought out his Preceptor, one of

the most valuable books for the improvement of young minds, that has

appeared in any language; and to this meritorious work Johnson

furnished the preface. Boswell's Life of Johnson, i.

[2] "And albeit the reader shall not at any one day (do what he can)

reach to the meaning of our author, or of our commentaries, yet let

him not discourage himself, but proceed; for, on some other day, in

some other place, that doubt will be cleared." This is the advice of

Lord Coke to the student bewildered in the mazes of legal

investigation. Preface to the first Institute.

PREFACE TO ROLT'S DICTIONARY[1].

No expectation is more fallacious than that which authors form of the

reception which their labours will find among mankind. Scarcely any man

publishes a book, whatever it be, without believing that he has caught

the moment when the publick attention is vacant to his call, and the

world is disposed, in a particular manner, to learn the art which he

undertakes to teach.

The writers of this volume are not so far exempt from epidemical

prejudices, but that they, likewise, please themselves with imagining

that they have reserved their labours to a propitious conjuncture, and

that this is the proper time for the publication of a dictionary of

commerce.

The predictions of an author are very far from infallibility; but, in

justification of some degree of confidence, it may be properly observed,

that there was never, from the earliest ages, a time in which trade so

much engaged the attention of mankind, or commercial gain was sought

with such general emulation. Nations which have hitherto cultivated no

art but that of war, nor conceived any means of increasing riches but by

plunder, are awakened to more inoffensive industry. Those whom the

possession of subterraneous treasures have long disposed to accommodate

themselves by foreign industry, are at last convinced that idleness

never will be rich. The merchant is now invited to every port;

manufactures are established in all cities; and princes, who just can

view the sea from some single corner of their dominions, are enlarging

harbours, erecting mercantile companies, and preparing to traffick in

the remotest countries.

Nor is the form of this work less popular than the subject. It has

lately been the practice of the learned to range knowledge by the

alphabet, and publish dictionaries of every kind of literature. This

practice has, perhaps, been carried too far by the force of fashion.

Sciences, in themselves systematical and coherent, are not very properly

broken into such fortuitous distributions. A dictionary of arithmetick

or geometry can serve only to confound; but commerce, considered in its

whole extent, seems to refuse any other method of arrangement, as it

comprises innumerable particulars unconnected with each other, among

which there is no reason why any should be first or last, better than is

furnished by the letters that compose their names.